Monday, June 15, 2015

Swedish Wedding Of Prince Carl Philip Is Royal Musical Miss

Non-Operatic Pairing: Prince Carl Philip with his bride Sofia. See the full program of the wedding ceremony by clicking here.

HRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden married Sofia Hellqvist on June 13, 2015, in The Royal Chapel of The Royal Palace. Following the footprint for the nuptials of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath, assembling guests were treated to "compositions for Royal Weddings" by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johan Helmich Roman, and George Friederic Händel. That would be the end of the classical music for this ceremony. What followed was the inclusion of non-traditional music such as "Athair ar Neamh" by Enya for the Procession, "Fix You" by Coldplay (sung by Salem Al Fakir) before the Intercession, and "Joyful, joyful" (sung by Samuel Ljungblahd) at the Bridal Recession. No surprise that a love of pop music runs in the family, as his parents were treated to an ABBA concert at the Royal Opera the night before their wedding in 1976. As this trend toward lack of vocal music at young royal weddings continues, will opera singers be banished from these events in the future? There is a plethora of actively performing Swedish sopranos and mezzo-sopranos that could have been engaged for this special occasion, including Anne Sofie von Otter, Miah Persson, Nina Stemme, Katarina Karnéus, Ann Hallenberg, and more. Check out videos of the country's overlooked singers (including Peter Mattei), after the jump.